Jumping In

[Slick Fork]

Just another update,

Made another trip down to the city the other day and picked up a few more pieces of live rock. Also got my trashcan sump set up bringing my total capacity up to 15 gallons. Here are a couple of shots I snapped quickly on my way to work this morning

The new layout of the tank:


A side view of the Sump:


Now I just snapped these first thing this morning so all that's on are the actinics, but the lights haven't changed and you've already seen those!! I'm really pleased with some of the smaller chunks of rock I found, crawling with life, very lightweight and as you can see I could make some neat arch formations with them!

The trashcan sump is as easy as pie, I took all the pieces of LR I wasn't particlarly thrilled with out of the display and put them in the sump. In the top picture you can see I just mounted a PVC pipe in the side of it and siliconed it up real good, it just overflows back into the main tank as it fills up. I relocated the HOB filled with Live Rubble and the heater into the sump and the tube you see going from the sump to the main tank is actually connected to the HOB filter intake so it draws water from the display over the sump and into the HOB filter, which empties into the sump which empties back into the display!!

The water bottle you see sitting on the HOB will be reincarnated today as an auto topoff device, and the beer bottle in the background will soon be joined by several more as DIY projects are thirsty work.

My current conundrum is what to do as far as a more permanent mount for that light. I've considered hanging it, but I want to make sure that the tank is where I want it before I start putting holes in the ceiling. The other option would be to mount it to the stand (which is waiting on plywood skin before it's complete), the trouble I have with that though is it will be in the way if it's bolted on and I want to do something. Any ideas?

[TheReefGeek]

You should paint your background blue so you don't see the trashcan through the glass, will look cleaner.

[Midknight]

Hey Slick,

If you want to hang it try mounting it on the wall with the wall bracket setup. Then you can used the shelf to put your ATO on.

Dan

[Slick Fork]

Think I might be cycled already. Checked the parameters this morning and I got zero's across the board for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. Is this possible with a tank that's only been up for a couple of weeks? I remember at this point in my freshwater cycle, ammonia and nitrites were through the roof and still going up so I'm quite surprised to see everything at zero right now.

Think I'll bring a water sample in somewhere before I buy anything though.

[Quagmire]

You seem pretty handy with DIY.For the light,maybe build a hood for it.The rock may have already been cycled when you got it,so only a small cycle in the tank from the bit of die off,from the trip home.Best to wait a while to make sure,and good idea getting you water tested at a store.Check out the Royal Grammas for a fish,colorfull (wifes like color )and easy to care for.

[Midknight]

Hi Slick,
Here is what I was talking about with the wall method.



Easily adjusted and built in shelves.

[Slick Fork]

I don't think a hood will work simply because of the size of the fixture, it is actually 4" wider then the tank so I think a hood would look silly. I like the wall mount idea Midnight, but with the backpack sump I've got going the back of the tank is about a foot from the wall already so I'd need one huge shelf!

I think what I'll do is just suspend if from the ceiling. Then I can push/tie it out of the way if I need to get into the tank.

With the parameter's I've got, I'm thinking about holding off on fish (just to be safe) but maybe adding a couple of inverts and maybe a coral (maybe a Riccordia or mushroom for starters) and see how things go for a little while. I want to add things slowly so that the smaller stuff gets a chance to establish before being actively hunted by anything bigger!

[Slick Fork]

What a sh@tty week.

Got my light fixture hung and that was all good and well. Decided to take my water down to Gold's on monday to confirm that I was cycled, readings of zero across the board, so I grabbed a toadstool coral and a star polyp.

Took those home and all was well, the coral's seemed to adjust beautifully to life in the new tank.

Yesterday I had to go back to Calgary and stopped in at Gold's again, picked up a pair of tank bred clownfish (I figured with 15 gallons of capacity I would be ok) and a new powerhead. Acclimitize the fish just like I did the coral's (put them in a bucket and drip my tank water in gradually, it took about half an hour before I put them in the tank) Installed the powerhead, added the fish, all was well and happy. I checked on them before I went to bed and everyone seemed fine.

Came home from work today, clownfish are both dead, coral's look like they're on the way out. Other residents of the tank seem fine (2 hermit crabs 2 snails and a conch). I have no idea what could've caused this, as I didn't change anything at all between monday and today other then adding the new fish and powerhead. My parameter's are all fine, Salinity is good, Temperature is good Like I said as well, my inverts are all fine, but the fish are dead (I stuck them in the freezer in case I can return them), and my Coral's are on their way out.

Of course, because it's thursday and Gold's is closed, I can't phone anybody and vent. This is the first time I've bought livestock from them and I'm really not impressed. Does anyone know if they have any sort of guarantee? I'm living about an hour out of the city so getting in before the weekend will be problematic.

I am really one unhappy camper right now, my coral's might still have a shot, does anyone have any idea what I should be looking for in order to give them a chance at recovery? Any help is appreciated

[TheReefGeek]

1/2 hour is minumum for acclimating I would say, I do it for 1 hour, slowly increasing the drip rate and emptying my container 1/3rd every once and a while.

The fish dieing might have polluted your tank before you found the fish, and your corals might be suffering a bit because of this.

How long did you leave the rock to cycle? Did you observe and chart an actual cycle of ammonia spike, then no ammonia, then nitrite spike, then no nitrite, then nitrates increasing?